Golf club



April 7, 1925.

G. w. BRADLEY GOLF CLUB Filed Dec. 1, 1922 llVVE/VTUR, BTadAe ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GOLF CLUB.

Application filed December 1, 1922. Serial No. 604,411.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, GEORGE WV. BRADLEY,

a citizen of the United Stat-es, residing at West Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Golf Clubs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to clubs used for playing golf and particularly to those golf clubs which are used for strokes made ed the green, which especially require that the club be held with a firm grip as well as in accurate osition, since these strokes generally entail t e application of more or less effort in impelling the ball. All players experience dificulty, assuming they hold the club initially in the proper position for effecting the stroke, in thereupon maintaining that position until the stroke iscomplet-ed notwithstanding an unconscious disposition to shift one or both hands around the club and the tendency of the club to twist or turn in the hands when the ball is struck. This invention contemplates providing a golf club with means whereby once the player has properly positioned the club in his hands, he can thereupon consummate the stroke with perfect assurance that no twisting or turning of the club in his hands or shifting of his hands on the club during the stroke can take place.

That the player may determine at the beginning of a stroke that the club is properly positioned ll preferably provide a gage which extends longitudinahy of the club handle in general radial correspondence with the club head and which the player makes use of by the sense of touch. This however is not indispensable.

For preventing twisting or turning of the club in the players hands and shifting of one or both of his hands on the club 1 provide a rib running longitudinally of the handle. It is not new broadly to provide a rib on a golf club handle running longitudinally thereof. But it is new to place this rib so that it, will be within the grasp I of one or both hands (that is, where it will indent the flesh thereof, extending across the insides of the fingers, instead of being positioned simply so that the finger ends may abut it laterally) and so that while it will make a sharp-edge impression in the flesh of the hand or hands it will as a whole be yielding so that it will not be a source of annoyance to the player during the stroke.

In the accompanaying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a golf club of the Wooden-head type embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on a larger scale and on line 22 in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow in that figure Fig. 3 is an elevation of the club handle, showing the gage;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a. device which I prefer toslip on the shaft to form a handle embodying my improvements; and

Fig. 5 shows a modification in transverse section.

a; designates the shaft of a golf club and 6 its wooden head; the character 0 denotes generally the handle of the club.

In the present instance 1 form this handle as follows: A sleeve of elastic rubber d is provided which is adapted to fit snugly over the handle portion of the shaft a and this is secured on the shaft in any way. Thus, it may be cemented on the shaft and have its ends whipped, as by the cord lashings e bound around said ends, the same as the leather wrapping handles of golf clubs are usually Secured. It will be understood that when the sleeve 0? is in place the handle 0 of the club is cylindrical the same as that of the usual golf club and has the same thickness or diameter.

The sleeve cl has a longitudinal gage arranged exteriorly thereon so as to be in radial correspondence, generally, with the head 6 of the club. This gage is produced by forming the sleeve d with an exterior tablelike surface f (which if desired may be interrupted so as to exist in two parts, but this is immaterial), the same being elongated and extending longitudinally of the handle and merging obtusely into the.

cylindrical surface of the sleeve so as to form no appreciable rib at either side of the table. Preferably this table or tablelike surface is a depression in the sleeve at only deep enough so that the player is just sensible of its presence when in gripping the club he presses his thumbs, pointing down the shaft, againstthe table. It serves simply to indicate that the club is properly positioned n his hands rotatively of the Relatively opposite the head I) of the club the sleeve d is provided with a rib g which forms the means for preventing the turning of the club in the players hands or the shifting of his hands or either of them on the club during the stroke. This rib is of sufiicient-length in the present instance so as to be gripped by both hands, but it should be long enough to at least be gripped by one hand, as the hand which is the upper one in gripping the club handle. Important elements of this rib are, first, that it has an outer face g which forms approximately a right angle with one or each of its lateral faces g 9 and second, that it is elastic and yielding in the grip of the players hands, being in the present case moulded as a part of the sleeve. The angularity of the face g with reference to each face 5 g results in the lateral faces becoming effective to resist twisting of the club in the players hands or shifting of either hand on the club when in gripping the club the rib is pressed into the flesh of the hands, specifically of the fingers where it crosses them. The rib is made yielding so that, while it impresses itself into the flesh of the hands with its cross-sectional angularity preserved it nevertheless responds to pres sure, so that it is not a cause of irritation and discomfort. In many instances the rib will actually fall in the creases at the first or second joints in the players hands. In Fig. 5 I show a modification in which instead of one rib there are two spaced ribs It.

By my invention the player is able, having positioned the club properly, as by the gage, to thereupon hold it securely for performing the stroke according to the most accepted standard as to form.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is A golf club having on its handle a longitudinal yielding relatively prominent rib arran ed in general radial opposition to the club cad and formed with an outer face and also with a lateral face in angular relation to each other and together forming a relatively sharp edge, whereby when the club is gripped in the players hand the rib will be impressed into the flesh thereof and said lateral face will become effective to resist shifting of the club or hand in one direction 011 the axis of the handle.

In tesimony whereof I afiix my signature.

GEO. W. BRADLEY 

